


Strong Enough

by shadowstake_us82



Series: Bone Deep [1]
Category: Emmerdale
Genre: Fluff and Angst, M/M, Victoria mention
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-13
Updated: 2020-02-13
Packaged: 2021-02-28 06:34:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 872
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22699492
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shadowstake_us82/pseuds/shadowstake_us82
Summary: Robert is not coping with the nightmare surrounding his sister. His husband sees him through.
Relationships: Aaron Dingle/Robert Sugden
Series: Bone Deep [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1632709
Comments: 4
Kudos: 27





	Strong Enough

**Author's Note:**

> I had this knocking around since canon scenes from June 2019. There's not a lot to it so I wasn't sure about uploading. But on tumblr I got a title prompt and decided that this one shot would be the best use for it.
> 
> This scene takes place a couple of days after Victoria makes her decision to keep the baby.

Robert was in shock. His head was reeling. He thought they were on the same page, that Victoria had made the right choice, the only healthy choice for herself, but she had turned right around and selected a path he couldn't begin to reconcile; it felt to him like the bottom had fallen out of his world. Why couldn't she see she was making a decision that would affect the rest of her life in a way she might never recover from? This wasn't what he wanted for his sister, he was sick with the thought of it, a darkness festering inside his veins; it was a nightmare he had to wake up from. He should have kept her safe. He just wanted to go back, to undo it all, to change a million infinitesimal things and then maybe their lives could return to the way they were; maybe then Victoria would be safe, would be free from this hell instead of chained to it by a monster's DNA.

"It doesn't work that way. We know that better than anyone." Aaron sighed. He wrapped his arm around his husband's shoulder and brought him into his body so as to comfort.

Robert knew his spouse was right; they really did have a lifetime of experience between them as proof of how unjust and cruel life could be. He thought about his birth mother dying in a car crash when he was just four months old; of the woman who raised him, Victoria's mother, _his_ mother, dying horrifically in a barn fire started by the son she took in when Robert was only fourteen; he thought of his brother, Andy, his father's favourite and his mother's doom, currently on the run for a crime he didn't commit; of his father, Jack, also in the ground and haunting him even before; the man he could never live up to, a man he hated and resented, but still loved too much it ripped him wide open every time he heard his name. Aaron was right: life never did turn out the way you wanted and hoped sometimes.

Still, amid all the pain there were parcels of joy, of dreams that actually came true. He was married to the love of his life, finally able and happy to accept who he truly was, finally liking the version of himself he now was, seeing their son grow, and planning on expanding their family; sometimes life could be beautiful. 

He was sorted now. Happy. Incredibly so, if he was honest; maybe that made him even less qualified to help his sister.

"Now you're being ridiculous', Aaron smiled sadly, brushing Robert's hair back from his tanned forehead. "That's not how it works either."

"I just want this to... have never happened." Robert finished lamely.

"We all want that. We need to be practical though, and thoughtful. We need to just listen to Victoria."

"I am, I promise. I just..."

"Not liking what you're hearing, I know."

Robert looked at his husband straight in the eye. "How can she want this? How could anyone...?" He swallowed around his words, around their meaning that slashed into his brain as sharp and precise as a scalpel. He paled significantly, had a clammy and greenish tinge to his skin; on looking closer, Aaron thought his husband was minutes away from vomiting.

Aaron shook his head, his eyes saddened a fraction more. "I don't know. That's something we'll never know, or even something we'll ever be able to understand. But Rob?" Aaron paused and waited until his husband could meet his eyes again. "It's something we can't provide - and especially can't dictate - answers for. Okay?" He leaned into Robert's space and squeezed his shoulder comfortingly, trying to capture aqua-green eyes.

Robert finally sagged against the brunette with a resigned sigh that Aaron thought looked painful to release; the kind that almost drags your lungs right out with it. 

"You know what the very best decision of my life has been?" Robert suddenly asked, gazing sincerely at Aaron.

Aaron shrugged and threw out a casual response, "when you married me, of course."

Robert's head slowly turned from side to side, making Aaron momentarily frown. "No. The first time I ever kissed you at our lay-by."

Aaron smiled, shaking his head. 

"Marrying you was the second best decision", he continued.

Aaron looked back at his husband and offered a small but profound smile. He leaned into his space again and gently pressed his lips against Robert's, no more force than the merest touch.

"You could be worse", Aaron said softly, making Robert huff a laugh out. "I didn't do too badly", he conceded, a mellow grin easing its way across his mouth.

Robert rested his hand on his husband's cheek and stroked the pad of his thumb in a caress against his skin. "You're the best thing I ever did", he murmured against Aaron's slightly parted lips.

"Correction: I _am_ the best thing you _still_ do", Aaron replied, sealing it with a wink.

Robert grinned, eyes sparkling again with the light only Aaron could bring to them. 

"As always you're right. You always will be." The blond smiled gently, knowing bone deep that nothing could be truer. 

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much for reading and any feedback you feel like leaving, it is always warmly welcomed and extremely appreciated.
> 
> My Robron blog on Tumblr is StrongestPersonIKnow, so feel free to say hi; I'd always love to hear from you.
> 
> Thanks again. x


End file.
